Information comes from the "History of
Bear Lake Pioneers" by Thress Rich and Orean Stocks published in 1968

From the biography of Neils Johnson; "I was
born on the 9th of December 1845 in Kidebrand Spellan, Denmark. The first
I remember I was three years old and my parents were very poor; we had very
little to eat and less to wear. When I was little I was hired to a farmer
to herd lambs. I got lard for pay. The next summer I was hired to a farmer
to end cows and I did this for eight years. In November 1855, my mother came to
see me and my father, John who was working close by in a mill. Father was
under the influence of liquor, as was often the case, but told Mother he had
been to a Mormon meeting. He said he wanted to join the Mormon Church if
she were willing. She said that she would do just anything if he would
quit drinking. He promised her he would if she would go with him and be
baptized. In January 1856 they were both baptized and my Father quit
drinking and smoking and never took it up again. It made such an
impression on me when I saw the life he had lived that I was baptized 5 Sep
1857. I have never for a moment regretted that step."

April 17 1862, the Johnson family left Demark
to go to Utah arriving in Salt Lake 1 Oct 1862, staying in Brigham City until
being called to settle Bear Lake. In September 1864 they went to Paris
where Neils lived with his parents until the spring of 1871. He then came
to Ovid, married Anna Margrat Berg 18 Sep 1871 in the Endowment House in Salt
Lake and lived in Ovid his entire life.